Marquez: Dovizioso, Lorenzo the strong rivals for Austria
Marc Marquez says he’s already preparing for a last corner fight again at the Red Bull Ring after being involved in the dramatic duel with Andrea Dovizioso 12 months ago and has picked out the factory Ducati riders as his biggest opponents.
Despite narrowly missed out to Dovizioso and Ducati team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at last weekend’s Czech Republic round, Marquez was still able to extend his MotoGP world championship lead to 49 points with closest rival Valentino Rossi finishing behind him in fourth.
Marc Marquez says he’s already preparing for a last corner fight again at the Red Bull Ring after being involved in the dramatic duel with Andrea Dovizioso 12 months ago and has picked out the factory Ducati riders as his biggest opponents.
Despite narrowly missed out to Dovizioso and Ducati team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at last weekend’s Czech Republic round, Marquez was still able to extend his MotoGP world championship lead to 49 points with closest rival Valentino Rossi finishing behind him in fourth.
Following the one-day post-race test at Brno, which Marquez topped for Repsol Honda with four bikes at his disposal, the defending MotoGP world champion is eager to see how his gains from the test translate at the Red Bull Ring having focused on understanding why the RC213V’s tendency to overwork the front tyre.
With Ducati riders winning both previous editions of the Austrian MotoGP since the event’s return to the race calendar in 2016, Marquez makes no secret of Dovizioso and Lorenzo being favourites at the Spielberg circuit but is confident he can provide a strong challenge.
Last year Marquez and Dovizioso had an intense duel for the win which ended with the Spanish rider attempting a late last corner lunge on his rival but drifted wide to see the Italian sprint to the victory.
“We come from a good test in Brno, where we found several positive things. We’ll try some of them at the Red Bull Ring and see how everything works,” Marquez said.
“Austria is another track where Dovizioso and Lorenzo are strong, but we were also strong there last year so we’ll see if it comes down to the last corner again!
“We’ll try to be fast from the start of the weekend and then fight up at the front.
“Actually, it will be the second time this year for me at the track, after the unbelievable experience we had with the F1 Toro Rosso test run last June.”
Marquez has five race wins and three additional rostrums results so far in 2018, missing out on a top three finish at just the Argentina and Italy rounds.
